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My friend Emily made a quick jaunt from her home in AZ to the Bay Area for work a while back, and I had the pleasure of spending the weekend with her. I wish I could say that the weather here behaved for my desert-dwelling friend but alas, that is not at all the case. However, I can’t remember the last weekend I did so many fun things! We certainly made the most of it.

I tried…okay. My giant hand is in the shot, and such is life. What matters is that we’re ecstatic about our coffee. Also, can we also take a minute and gawk at Emily’s vintage earrings. So sparkly!

Meanwhile, outside….it consistently looked like this:

Windy, dreary, cold buckets o’rain. But, that didn’t stop us from having a good time!

Friday’s itinerary involved delicious sushi and drinks at Prizefighter in Emeryville, where the rain let up enough for us to enjoy the patio and meet countless dogs. Saturday involved a pit stop at Trouble Coffee before popping on the freeway and heading to my favorite places in wine country. I finally got to sink my teeth into the ahi burger at Gott’s, albeit hiding from the rain with dozens of other people outside. We followed lunch up with some wine tasting at one of my new favorites in Yountville: Jessup cellars. We almost walked away with a totally indulgent bottle of port- amazing when paired with disks of dark chocolate. I highly recommend checking them out, if you’re ever in the area!

We ended the evening with drinks and dancing at Blondie’s in San Francisco’s Mission district, followed up by late-night tacos at Pancho Villa. Emily was a good sport when I dragged her out of bed early the next morning to grab dim sum at a local spot. I would like to think that her first dim sum experience was worth the early morning. Look at that expression! That’s how I feel when I get up and get to eat egg custard buns too. After eating, we zipped across town and got our nails done to start the next week off right.

It’s been a long week, but we’ve made it this far! Happy Wednesday. Funnily enough, despite resting up sufficiently this last weekend, I somehow have enough energy to unnecessarily exhaust myself all over again during the day. Take today for example: all I had was a quick, 10 minute jaunt on the freeway to get to an appointment. What do I do instead? Take a wrong turn that includes a 20 minute detour in the complete opposite direction that I need to go. When I finally got to my destination, I managed to run around (literally back and forth across the street to find a functioning parking ticket dispenser) a bit while only being five minutes late to my appointment. Go me! I somehow adult my way through these things. Things like this seem to be the pattern recently- I’m taking the “scenic route” everywhere, both literally and figuratively. You would think I would have better things to do with my time- like peruse Instagram, have a glass of wine, or shop online for shoes. Well, in between doing these things instead of going to bed like a responsible adult, I lined up this week’s Five Things, just as random as always:

Here’s a little snapshot from Jessup Cellars in Yountville. I don’t know about you, dear readers, but if a tasting room supplies snacks, chances are I’ll be back. I loved finishing my red wine with a bit of dark chocolate.

A quick shout-out to #NationalLipstickDay today! The above is one of my favorite clips from one of my favorite movies, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I watch it at least once a year, usually around my birthday. There are still certain things you cannot read without your lipstick.

I snapped a clip of the snarky decor at Bunny’s Shoes in Santa Cruz on my latest trip. Stop by if you get a chance- they have a little something for everyone.

I recently stumbled across this spot for Boston Ballet and have been fascinated. It has minimal bells-and-whistles, but packs a punch by showcasing the dancers’ amazing athletic ability. Check out Dusty Button’s amazing extension at 46 seconds! Yowza.

I give you: one of my favorite pieces of art on the Yountville Art Walk. Yes, it’s a giant salmon sculpture with a broken tail. No, I have no idea why it’s there or who created it. But, there was just something about it’s bright colors and shark-like teeth that made me happy. It was either that or all the wine.

If you’ve read my last post, I’m sure you’ve picked up on the craziness that is my life lately. With the many weddings, come many wedding preparations. There’s the planning, the flowers, the cake tastings, but my personal favorite is an age-old tradition: the Bachelorette party.

I’ve had a few bachelorette experiences in my lifetime. The first, while I was still in college, involved kidnapping the bride, shopping at Victoria’s Secret, and an old-fashioned slumber party complete with hair braiding and Truth or Dare. The latest, was perhaps up several notches up on the “adult” scale, but no less fun. It still involved semi-kidnapping the bride ( The “Pack your bags! Get in the car- we’re going on vacation!” kind of kidnapping), but the itinerary was an entire girl’s weekend in Napa. We hit as many wineries as we could in one day, and, of course, made the bride wear these amazing glasses:

You know, so everyone would know that she was the bride! We got such great, welcoming treatment, we decided that for our next weekend in Napa, someone else would have to be getting “married,” aka: taking turn wearing the fabulous bride glasses. Free drinks for everybody!

Our plans for day one involved starting with a quick wine tasting at Napa’s Folie a Deux winery, and then lunch at Thomas Keller’s ad hoc & addendum in Yountville.

addendum is only open for a few hours each day, and offers a simple menu, picnic style. We opted for a bucket of their signature fried chicken, along with their sides and some cornbread.

I’m going to be honest, I thought about this Rosemary-topped fried chicken for days after I ate it. It was amazingly delicious.

We then proceeded to walk through Yountville, taking in the sights. If you ever find yourself in the are, make sure you stop by their visitor’s center. We left with great recommendations, and were thoroughly entertained by Marion, an English grandma with no filter. She had us in stitches the moment we walked in. She gave us all the local specials and recommendations, and, for those tasting rooms that were coupon-less, she simply suggested we walk in and “look pathetic.” She’s a great lady, that one.

We continued our trek down the road, past the world-famous French Laundry and neighboring gardens, to Jessop Cellars. We were helped by Kate, a fellow 20-something who entertained our lack of wine knowledge. “What kind of wines do you like?” she asked the bride.

“Uh, the kind that’s in a cup!”

Well said, Jessie. I second that.

The second thematic question of the trip involved pointing at the menu and asking “What color is this one?!”

The looking pathetic must have worked, either that or the bride’s giant crown won us points, as they insisted that our tastings were all free of charge. Jessop was such a great spot, I definitely see myself returning the next time I’m in the area!

At the end of our trip, there was one question I kept getting asked: “So did you guys get crazy?” And, while you won’t find any exotic dancer business cards in my purse, we did go to a dive bar for some karaoke (the Bride’s favorite activity of choice). I like to joke that there’s a reason I’m a dancer- you really don’t want to hear me sing. Even so, after some creative shooters, I somehow found myself onstage singing “Bitch Better Have My Money” by Rhianna. I guess singing would be a little too generous of a description. I was mostly just yelling into the mike. Which I’m sure was pretty entertaining. There is no lack of adventure here in Watch Me Juggle-land.

Welcome to Five Things, the vacation version! Even though it’s been a while since I’ve gone on a legitimate vacation outside of California, but my pictures lately certainly make me feel like I’ve gone on my share of adventures lately. You could also think of this week’s Five Things as a visual vacation- I like to think of chocolates,wine, and the beach when I need a zen moment.

Commence relaxation in 3, 2, 1…

I can’t get over the color of the water by Santa Barbara’s East Beach. It was also so clear, you could see the kelp forests coming up through the water.

I visited Mumm Napa for the first time recently. It’s set up just like a restaurant, with groups of tables and assigned servers, except the only thing on the menu is sparkling wine. So, it’s pretty much my favorite new place. I’m contemplating being a real adult and joining their wine club.

Photo c/o instagram.com/zoella

I’m excited to give my hair a much-needed cut, and a little extra blonde to get me through the summer. Adorable Brit blogger, Zoella, has been my go-to for ombré hair inspiration.

This beautiful piece of art hangs in the entryway of Hall winery, and is made entirely of vintage beaded costumes and sweaters. It’s quite large (floor to ceiling) and stunning in person.

I fell in love with the chocolate case at Dean and Deluca this last weekend. While I have no problem eating entire boxes of chocolates in one sitting, I couldn’t imagine eating one of these beautifully detailed little marzipan animals!

I was also craving some sort of baked good. Like most Sundays, I try to cram as many activities as possible into one day, so after fueling myself with coffee, I hoped on the trusty Google and began a search for a “lazy biscuit” recipe. Lazy was probably an understatement, because, at this point I didn’t even have enough motivation to reach for the recipe book on the top shelf of my kitchen cabinets. Lucky for me, I stumbled upon Bran Appetit’s “Lazy Biscuits for Two.” It was perfect! The recipe was straightforward, and with a little finagling, I even whipped together a substitute for buttermilk with some regular milk and a little lemon juice. I mean, aside from the fact that I was just one person making a “for two” recipe, I was feeling pretty confident. Anyway, who could resist the possibility of having something like this for breakfast:

Photo c/o Bran Appetit

Looks delicious right?

Well, being fairly competent in the kitchen, I quickly realized something was horribly wrong with my version of these biscuits.

I give you, pancake-cookie-biscuits with an aluminum foil crust!

Mmmm, so delicious!!

I lamented these resulting “biscuits” so much, I even pulled out a spatula and tried to pry them off the foil in an attempt to eat whatever I could. After the 20 minutes I spent gently cutting the butter into flour to make these dough blobs, they would have been actually edible had I bothered to fully read the directions. I’ve honestly never had a baking endeavor go so wrong so quickly. Unfortunately, I know some of you can relate to my kitchen disaster- sometimes the things that come out of your oven are just destined to be a hot mess, both literally and figuratively. So, I did what any normal 20-something would do: I salvaged my day with an impromptu road trip to Napa for a glass of wine and some amazing food.